To La Maddalena, 7-8 May 2023

From Propriano we had planned to make a stopover on the way to Bonifacio. However, after a very sunny first week with calm winds, the forecast for the next few days was stormy. We decided to sail through the Strait of Bonifacio on the 7th of May to find a good shelter for the coming stormy days without delaying our journey to the south...

But things turned out quite differently. The wind came much stronger than the forecast, from the east, forcing us to tack against the current and the waves in winds of around 25 knots. As we were not progressing as expected and would not reach Sardegna before nightfall, we decided to anchor in a sheltered bay on the way to Bonifacio. We found good shelter, soon joined by two other boats, in a small Corsican paradise, the bay of Arbitru.

To Propriano, 5-7 May 2023

We left the anchorage at the Sanguinaires Islands with some difficulty to head for Ajaccio, where we had to fill up our fuel tanks after crossing from Toulon almost entirely on engine power. We had to use the engine again as there was no wind.

Anchorage on "Les Sanguinaires"

To Ajaccio, 3-5 May

Everything was ready for the 10am departure on 3 May. Almost everything, in fact, as I discovered at the last minute that the batteries for the bow thruster were dead! It took 6 hours to get a new set and we finally got underway at 18:00. After an uneventful night, we saw the Corsican coast line just before dawn.

By then, the wind had disappeared and we started the engine. This is when the problems started...

What influences the tides in Croatia? - 14 April 2023

Skip if you are allergic to mathematics :-)

In the previous post, I presented the tide chart for Rovinj for the 17 days starting from 17 April as shown on previous post.

 

In an attempt to better understand the interactions that result in such an interesting mixed tidal pattern (semi-diurnal and diurnal periods alternating), I digitized the 17 day series in Excel so as to study it further...

Digitised tide level forecast in Rovinj, 17 days from 17 April 2023

So what factors were found to contribute to the pattern?

Tides and currents in the Adriatic sea - 9 April 2023

Continuing our preparation for sailing in the Adriatic, let's look at the tides and currents there.

In my sailing experience, the tides can be summarised as either huge amplitude in the Atlantic and the English Channel, particularly around the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel where the tidal amplitude can reach 12 metres, or no tide at all in the Baltic due to the very shallow and narrow opening to the northern sea!

What about the Adriatic?

Below is the tide chart for Rovinj (near Pula) for the next 17 days.

Tide-forecast.com

Anything unfamiliar? Let's have a look!

More on winds to expect in May and June in Croatia - 8 April 2023

This post presents the most prevailing winds in May and June in the Adriatic sea, based on the data from 2018 to 2022 in Dubrovnik. These data are taken from the website of the University of Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM). The image below shows the wind rose for an average full day from May and June 2028 to 2023. The size of the bars represents the frequency of winds from each direction, expressed in %. The colour indicates the expected wind strength.. 

Overall, the winds will be mainly from east, north-north-east and west-north-west directions. Let's have a look at the time of day, when to expect them and what this means for our sailing...

Welcome to Adriatic winds - 2 April 2023

Croatia has the reputation of being a paradise for sailors. But is it also a paradise for winds, some of which can reach hurricane force at very short notice! The picture below shows them on a wind rose according to the direction from which they blow. In short, northerly winds tend to be cold and dry, while southerly winds tend to be hot and humid.

Everything opposes the two prominent winds, the Bura and the Jugo: origin, temperature, humidity, mechanism. But they have one thing in common: their potential strength, which often threatens sailors at short notice...

In this post, we will be visiting the Bora and the Jugo, in preparation for our spring cruises in these waters!